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Gas lights fuse on Australia’s future
Australia’s coal and iron resources have helped the
country steer a safe course through the Global Financial
Crisis. But now, Australia is poised to become "the
Middle East of gas" as Asia's rapidly growing economies
queue up to buy its vast reserves in liquid form.
The Australian government last week approved the massive
Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Western
Australia, which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said would
cost 50 billion dollars (41 billion US) to build and
would generate 6,000 jobs.
The joint venture by Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil is
already underpinned by supply contracts with China and
India worth more than 60 billion US dollars, and more
customers are likely to sign up before it begins
operating in 2014.
Gorgon is just one of several LNG projects planned for
the next decade that analysts say will pump tens of
billions of dollars into the economy and see Australia
challenge Qatar as the world's major gas exporter.
State One Stockbroking analyst Peter Kopetz said LNG was
the next boom commodity.
"Potentially, there could be many more projects coming
on board," Kopetz said, pointing out that new
discoveries were being made all the time.
He said Australia had the potential to become "the
Middle East of gas" in coming decades as the world's oil
supplies dwindled.
Western Australia is the centre of the LNG boom with
three huge gas fields off its northwest coast: the
Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte basins.
But Kopetz also points out that Queensland on the east
coast has significant reserves of coal seam gas (CSG),
naturally occurring methane trapped by water deep
underground that can be converted to LNG.
Shell plans a CSG plant in Queensland expected to
produce up to 16 million tonnes of LNG a year, with
other energy giants such as Britain's BG Group,
ConocoPhillips, and Malaysia's Petronas also developing
projects in the area.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the industry had
the potential to overtake coal as the country's most
valuable export, generating jobs and boosting the
economy.
"The tax figures are quite exciting for government. If
all these projects go ahead, Canberra and the states of
Queensland and Western Australia would be awash with
cash," he said.
It’s easy to imagine the great sea of opportunities
arising for skilled trades people and diverse
professionals as a direct result of the LNG projects …
not to mention the spin-off, support and service
industries they will stimulate. What’s going on in your
corner of the world? Maybe it’s time to plan a future in
Australia for yourself.
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